ARIZONA: LAND OF USAC NATIONAL SUCCESS STORIES
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
San Tan Valley, Arizona (November 9, 2020)………The state of Arizona has provided us plenty over the years, from the Western World Championships to the Grand Canyon and even chimichangas and jet skis.
In the racing world, however, the southwestern state has produced numerous talented racecar drivers, many of whom made their mark in USAC with sprint cars, midgets and champ cars, including three drivers who’ve captured driving championships in at least three USAC National divisions as we enter this weekend’s 53rd annual Western World Championships presented by San Tan Ford at Arizona Speedway, featuring the USAC NOS Energy Drink National & Western States Midgets, plus the AMSOIL USAC CRA & Southwest Sprint Cars.
J.J. Yeley’s (Phoenix) 60 USAC National wins are the most for any Arizona-bred racer. He burst onto the National scene, scorching the Indiana dirt throughout the summer of 1997 with an Indiana Sprint Week title in his first try and victories at both Kokomo and Terre Haute in consecutive races. After dabbling in IndyCars for a few years, Yeley returned to the USAC ranks in full force, notching the National Sprint championship in 2001 and the Silver Crown title in 2002.
Yeley then became just the second, and most recent, driver to win the USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint and National Midget championships in a single season in 2003, an epic campaign which saw him win a record 24 USAC features, 23 of which were National point races.
Jerry Coons Jr. (Tucson) followed Yeley into Triple Crown immortality in the late 2000s, notching back-to-back USAC National Midget crowns in 2006-07, then added National Sprint and Silver Crown king status to his sterling resume to become the fifth to join the club who’ve reigned supreme among all three of those particular divisions. Coons, who remains an active driver to this day as an owner of 43 total USAC National wins, made his first USAC appearance back in 1987 and is one of just 10 drivers to capture a USAC feature victory in at least four decades.
Roger McCluskey (Tucson) was a champion in three different USAC National divisions throughout his career, which saw him represent USAC in the International Race of Champions in the 1970s and also represent USAC as the club’s Executive Vice President for a number of years following his driving career. His time behind the wheel was stellar, as he won the USAC National Sprint Car title twice in 1963 & 1966 as well as the USAC Stock Car division twice in 1969-70 and was the IndyCar champion in 1973.
McCluskey closed out his driving career on top, winning his final IndyCar start at Milwaukee, Wis. in 1979 before hanging up the helmet on a career which included 23 Sprint, 23 Stock Car, 5 IndyCar and 4 Midget wins with USAC. Additionally, USAC’s top award each year is presented to a USAC member in Roger McCluskey’s memory to recognize the standards of excellence in the sport of auto racing so astutely represented by McCluskey during his career as a USAC driver and official.
Jimmy Bryan (Phoenix) became the first Indianapolis 500 winner to hail from the state of Arizona in 1958. While chomping his distinctive unlit cigar, Bryan won 19 main events in his IndyCar career, all of which came in a relatively short span between 1953-58. He was the AAA National Champion in 1954 and won the first two National “IndyCar” Championships under the USAC banner in 1956-57. In 1957, Bryan won two of the three heats to claim the overall victory in the Race of Two Worlds on the high speed, high banked Monza, Italy oval.
Ron Shuman (Mesa) made his mark in any division he competed in, from sprint cars with CRA and SCRA to wing sprint cars with the World of Outlaws and to the champ cars of the USAC Silver Crown Series. However, his name will forever be intertwined with his unparalleled success in the Turkey Night Grand Prix, the perennial Thanksgiving night AAA/USAC Midget race that dates back to 1934.
To put Shuman’s dominance into perspective, he became the only driver to win the Turkey Night Grand Prix four years in a row between 1979-82. No other driver has won three. Total. Shuman tacked on additional Turkey Night wins in 1984-87-92-93. He’s also been victorious in all three USAC National divisions, taking three sprint wins, 12 midget and 3 Silver Crown.
Billy Boat (Phoenix) came the closest to Shuman’s Turkey Night record, winning three consecutive in the event between 1995-97. His 11 straight USAC Western States Midget feature victories during the 1995 season remains a USAC record to this day, since equaled by Adam Pierson in the DMA Midgets in 2016. Boat’s 9 career USAC National Midget wins, ironically, are equal to the amount that his son, Chad Boat, has achieved during his driving career.
Chad Boat (Phoenix) also owns two career USAC National Sprint wins and possesses the record of being the youngest driver to win a feature race with the division at 16 years, 4 months and 8 days on June 7, 2008 at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway. Boat has parlayed his driving prowess into becoming a successful car owner on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget trail in 2020, which sees his car driven by Chris Windom residing second in the standings entering the upcoming western swing with four wins.
Lealand McSpadden (Tempe) spent much of his career as an outlaw, running anywhere and everywhere with success, winning with the World of Outlaws and the Northern Auto Racing Club, plus championships with the Arizona Racing Association, CRA and SCRA, plus Midget wins at the Chili Bowl and the Belleville Nationals. With USAC, he won twice in the Sprints, in 1978 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds mile and in 1985 at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. He’d score again at the Indy Mile in 1992, winning the USAC Silver Crown Hulman 100.
Among the other Arizonians finding USAC success at the National level are Mesa’s Art Bisch who scored his only USAC National Championship victory at Milwaukee in 1958 from the pole, coming just a month before his fatal crash at Lakewood Speedway in Georgia.
Road racing ace George Follmer (Phoenix) became the next Arizona driver to win his one-and-only USAC National Championship race, which came in 1969 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Ron Shuman’s older brother, Billy Shuman (Tempe) won each of his four USAC races in a two-month span during the summer of 1973. Billy picked up the first of his three USAC National Midget victories that year at Henry’s Speedway (now Daugherty Speedway) in Boswell, Ind. Just weeks later, he earned his lone career USAC National Sprint Car victory on the one-mile Indiana State Fairgrounds dirt oval, a 50-lapper. Subsequent midget victories came in the following weeks at Charleston Speedway in Illinois and at Idaho’s Meridian Speedway. At the conclusion of the 1973 season, Billy finished a career best fifth in the USAC National Midget standings.
Jerry McClung (Phoenix) was a highly successful sprint car driver in the late 1960s, highlighted by a pair of Arizona Racing Association titles in 1967 and 1968, but his main success with USAC came behind the wheel of a midget, the final of his 10 victories coming in the Hut Hundred at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track in 1971.
Mike Martin (Yuma) became a bit of a folk hero when he pulled off a feat many would’ve thought impossible. In 2012, Martin showed up to Canyon Speedway Park in Peoria, Ariz. as an underdog with a 360 c.i. engine underneath the hood against the stout 410 c.i. engine competition. Martin then proceeded to lead wire-to-wire to win his lone USAC National Sprint Car feature.
Ron’s son and Billy’s nephew, Casey Shuman (Tempe), earned USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year honors in 2016. Likewise for Stevie Sussex (Tempe) who achieved the same honor with the USAC National Sprint Cars in 2017.
Honorable mentions go to Dan Drinan and Bob Frey who became Arizona transplants during their racing careers. Frey, originally hailing from Ohio, made Wickenburg, Ariz. his home and became one of the standouts on the pavement tracks in Glen Niebel’s V-6 with USAC’s Silver Crown and Sprint Car divisions, winning once in Silver Crown and three times with the Sprints in addition to five victories in the Little 500 at Anderson (Ind.) Speedway between 1980 and 1990.
Drinan, meanwhile, was born in Illinois before moving to Arizona as a child, then later resided in central Indiana. The master engineer, who designed and raced his own cars with an enormous amount of success, won eight USAC National Midget features and set numerous track records between 1992-95.
Western World activities at Arizona Speedway begin this Thursday night, Nov. 12, with open practice for both sprint cars and midgets. Pits open at 3pm MT with on-track practice from 6:30-9:30pm. Adult pit passes are $30 while pit passes are $10 for kids age 7-12 and free for kids ages 6 and under. Thursday night’s practice will feature an extra treat with the Beaver Stripes Racer Appreciation BBQ dinner.
On both Friday and Saturday night, Nov. 13-14, the pits open at 1pm MT, grandstands at 3pm and racing at 6:30pm. General admission adult tickets are $30, while kids 11 and under are just $10. Pit passes are $40 for adults and $15 for ages 7-12 and free for ages 6 and under.
The previous year’s Western World Midget winners include Kevin Thomas Jr. and Brady Bacon, who each raced their way to San Tan Ford / Beaver Stripes victory lane in 2019.
Western World tickets are on sale now at www.arizonaspeedway.net.
Both nights of the 53rd Western World Championships will be streamed live on FloRacing at https://bit.ly/2ZpafUr.